Auchmuty outstanding as Grove advances to regional final

ELIDA -- Even when Gibsonburg made a run, Columbus Grove had the answer. Grove built a 14-point lead early in the second quarter and fended off the Golden Bears from there. Lauryn Auchmuty was huge for the Bulldogs, compiling 29 points and 12 rebounds to lift Grove to a 53-44 Division IV regional semifinal win over No. 5 Gibsonburg on Wednesday at Elida Fieldhouse. "We're obviously real familiar with them," Columbus Grove coach Brian Schroeder said. "We haven't played them, at least in the past few years. You start to get into the film and watch them and they resembled us a lot." The Bulldogs improved to 21-5 and will face No. 4 Convoy Crestview (25-2) at 1 p.m. Saturday in the regional final back at Elida. "We had way too many turnovers," Schroeder said. "You're not going to win many tournament games turning the ball over 17 times. Just way too loose with the basketball. Credit Gibsonburg with that too. They started pressuring us a little bit more." Grove led 24-12 at halftime after Auchmuty picked a steal and scored. The Bulldogs answered the Golden Bears (23-3) nearly every time they scored in the third quarter. Sophia Paul hit Gibsonburg's first 3 of the game to open the third quarter, but Nicole Nesby hit two free throws for Grove. Jazmyne Morant scored for the Golden Bears, but a triple by Abby Stechschulte gave the Bulldogs a 29-17 lead. Evarts countered with a 3-pointer for Gibsonburg, but Allison Thompson drilled a 3 for Grove to keep pace. The Bulldogs led 37-25 after three quarters and furthered the advantage early in the fourth quarter. Auchmuty and Nesby scored before a 3-pointer by Kendal Palte pushed the lead to 44-26. "We knew if we could maybe make Evarts' points hard to guard - she's an incredible player," Schroeder said. "If we could make her points hard to score and make things hard for her, we thought we'd give ourselves a good chance. "I thought some of our role players did a good job of locating her in the zone and making her shots tough." Gibsonburg shot significantly better from 3 in the second half and that kept the Golden Bears within striking distance. After missing all 11 triples it took in the second half, Gibsonburg made eight 3-pointers in the second half. One of those makes by Morant drew the Golden Bears within 46-37 with 3:10 to play, but Nesby countered for Grove. Auchmuty made a couple free throws and Palte scored to put away the win for the Bulldogs. "That's always tricky," said Schroeder of slowing it down a bit in the fourth quarter. "You're always on the offensive and then all of a sudden, we don't want to completely pull the air out of the ball and still want to be aggressive. We want to be a little more selective in shots we take." It was all Grove early. Tied 2-2 just over two minutes in, the Bulldogs stormed away. With Gibsonburg struggling from the field, Grove got in a groove and scored 13 of the last 15 points of the quarter. Auchmuty hit a 3, converted a three-point play, and then picked a steal and scored to put the Bulldogs up 15-4 after one quarter. "It was pretty big," said Auchmuty of the start. "We came out knowing we needed to get a big lead on them. Never playing them before, we didn't know how they'd come out." A 3-pointer by Auchmuty opened a 20-6 lead in the second quarter. Grove went nearly four minutes without scoring, but Auchmuty's final two buckets of the half staked the Bulldogs to a 12-point lead at halftime. Evarts finished with 22 points, but shot just 6-of-20 from the field. Gibsonburg was 8-of-32 from 3. "We wanted to take away Evarts' free looks, but the rest of them are probably what we're willing to give," Schoreder said. "That was kind of the game plan - protecting the paint and contesting shooters on the perimeter." Nesby backed Auchmuty with 12 points. Auchmuty added three steals and two assists to go with her big double-double. "I try my best to get after all the loose balls - be the first one rebounding and try to high point it as high as I can," Auchmuty said. "I try to get all the rebounds." It'll be the second-straight regional championship game appearance for Grove, who lost to Toledo Christian at this stage last year. The Bulldogs lost a regular-season meeting to Crestview, 52-39 back on Jan. 4 at Crestview. "Nicole was 5-of-6," Schroeder said. "We didn't do a very good job of getting her the basketball. She needs to get more touches and more looks. Ruth Myers on defense did a really nice job. Allison Thompson hit a big 3 at one point. "Each and every girl had their fingerprints on this game." COLUMBUS GROVE (21-5) Auchmuty 9-9--29; Myers 0-1--1; Palte 2-0--5; Stechschulte 1-0--3; Nesby 5-2--12; Thompson 1-0--3. TOTALS: 18-45--12-16--53. GIBSONBURG (23-3) Fleming 1-0--3; Paul 1-2--5; Evarts 6-6--22; Morant 4-0--9; Henderson 0-2--2; Jividen 1-0--3. TOTALS: 13-51--10-12--44 Columbus Grove&emsp;15&emsp;9&emsp;13&emsp;16 -- 53 Gibsonburg&emsp;4&emsp;8&emsp;13&emsp;19 --44 3-POINT GOALS: Columbus Grove 5-22 (Auchmuty 2, Palte, Stechschulte, Thompson); Gibsonburg 8-32 (Evarts 4, Fleming, Paul, Morant). REBOUNDS: Columbus Grove 37 (Auchmuty 12); Gibsonburg 27 (Evarts 6). TURNOVERS: Columbus Grove 17; Gibsonburg 11